Жизнь прожить – не поле перейти (zhizn’ prozhit’ – ne pole pereyti). Literally: to live life is not to cross a field or living life is not like crossing a field. Explanation: life is not easy.
The rumbling has grown quiet. I walk out on the stage.
Leaning against a door jamb,
I try to catch in a distant echo
What will happen in my lifetime.
At me is aimed the murkiness of night;
I’m pinned by a thousand opera glasses.
If only it is possible, Abba, Father,
May this cup be carried past me.
I cherish your stubborn design
And am agreed to play this role.
But now a different drama is underway;
This time, release me.
But the order of the acts has been determined,
And the ending of the journey cannot be averted.
I am alone; all drowns in Pharisaism.
To live life is not to cross a field.
An alternative view: to live a life is to settle down, not to be distracted by the thought that something, somewhere else, is better. Find something to call your own- and try to make it better.
Pasternak’s last verse suggests that Hamlet should accept the consequences of the position he has taken, and that a life has not been lived until it ends.
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Beautiful words of Boris Pasternak
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